Method and apparatus for transmissions via multiple beams in a wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

A method for a wireless communications system is disclosed. In one example, user equipment (UE) (e.g. a mobile phone) receives an indication from a network (for example, by way of a transmission and reception point (TRP)) indicating whether a first transmission and a second transmission to the UE can be combined for decoding. The UE also receives the first transmission via a first UE beam and the second transmission via a second UE beam. The first transmission and the second transmission are received concurrently. The first and second transmissions can arrive via different serving beams and/or different TRPs of the same cell. Based on the indication, the UE combines the first and second transmissions for decoding purposes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/724,895, filed on Dec. 23, 2019, entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSIONS VIA MULTIPLE BEAMS IN A WIRELESSCOMMUNICATION SYSTEM”, which claims priority to and is a divisional ofU.S. application Ser. No. 15/634,476, filed on Jun. 27, 2017, entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSIONS VIA MULTIPLE BEAMS IN A WIRELESSCOMMUNICATION SYSTEM”, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 62/358,262, filed on Jul. 5, 2016, and entitledMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSIONS VIA MULTIPLE BEAMS IN A WIRELESSCOMMUNICATION SYSTEM. The entirety of U.S. application Ser. No.16/724,895, the entirety of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/634,476 and theentirety of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/358,262 ishereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject disclosure is directed to wireless communications, and ismore particularly related to a cell (e.g. a 5G cell) in which a userequipment (UE) (e.g. a mobile phone) and one or more transmission andreception points (TRPs) residing within the cell communicate with eachother with multiple serving and UE beams.

BACKGROUND

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a group that is tryingto investigate and develop technology components for the next generationaccess technology, namely 5G. 3GPP commenced its standardizationactivities vis-a-vis the 5G in March of 2015. 3GPP regularly publishesits meeting notes that describe its proposals, reference architecturemodels and study items for 5G. For example, 3GPP envisions a single cellarchitecture that contains multiple TRPs (also referred to asdistributed units (DUs)) and supports intra-cell mobility of the UE asit travels among the TRPs. This architecture presents numerouschallenges to which the inventions disclosed herein provide solutions.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the specification toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the specification. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the specification. It isintended to neither identify key or critical elements of thespecification nor delineate any scope particular to any embodiments ofthe specification, or any scope of the claims. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of the specification in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

As used herein, the following terms can be referred to by the respectiveabbreviations: 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP); 5th generation(5G); Block Error Rate (BER); Beam Specific Reference Signal (BRS); BaseStation (BS); Cloud RAN (C-RAN); Connected State (CONN); Channel QualityIndicator (CQI); Channel State Information (CSI); Closed SubscriberGroup (CSG); Central Unit (CU); Downlink (DL); Distributed Unit (DU);Evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB); Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (E-UTRA); Frequency-Division Duplex (FDD); Global System forMobile Communications (GSM); Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ);Long Term Evolution (LTE); Medium Access Control (MAC); Multiple Input,Multiple Output (MIMO); Network Function Virtualization (NFV); New RAT(NR); Network (NW); Protocol Data Unit (PDU); Physical (PHY); PublicLand Mobile Network (PLMN); Radio Access Technology (RAT); RadioFrequency (RF); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Reference Signal ReceivingPower (RSRP); Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ); Reception (Rx);Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio (SINR); Semi-PersistentScheduling (SPS); Tracking Area (TA); Tracking Area Code (TAC); TrackingArea Identity (TAI); Transmission Reception Point (TRP); TRP Group(TRPG); Technical Specification (TS); Transmission Time Interval (TTI);Transmission (Tx); User Equipment (UE); and Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (UTRA).

In various non-limiting embodiments, by way of example, the disclosedsubject matter provides a method for a user equipment (UE), in which theUE receives an indication about whether a first transmission and asecond transmission that the UE will receive (or has already received)can be combined for decoding. The UE receives the first transmission viaa first UE beam and receives the second transmission via a second UEbeam respectively, and the two transmissions occur concurrently.

In a further non-limiting example, the UE determines whether to combinethe first and second transmissions for decoding, based on theindication.

In a further non-limiting example, the disclosed subject matter providesa method for a user equipment (UE), in which the UE receives anindication about whether the UE should transmit information for the samedata unit or information for different data units, via a firsttransmission and a second transmission respectively. The UE makes thefirst transmission via a first UE beam and the second transmission via asecond UE beam. The two transmissions occur concurrently.

In a further non-limiting example, the UE determines whether to transmitinformation related to the same data unit or information related todifferent data units, via the first and second transmissionsrespectively, based on the indication.

In a further non-limiting example, the first and second transmissionscan occur via different serving beams for the UE.

In a further non-limiting example, the first and second transmissionscan be received via different serving beams for the UE.

In a further non-limiting example, the first and second transmissionscan be performed by using the same radio resources.

In a further non-limiting example, the indication is transferredtogether with scheduling information.

In a further non-limiting example, the UE determines that the twotransmissions contain the same content, because the signaling carryingtheir respective scheduling information is the same.

In a further non-limiting example, the UE can receive or transmit thefirst transmission via a first transmission and reception point (TRP)and receive or transmit the second transmission via the second TRP,wherein the two TRPs reside in the same cell.

In addition, further example implementations are directed to systems,devices and/or other articles of manufacture that facilitatecommunication between a UE and one or more TRPs residing within the samecell, via multiple serving beams and UE beams, as further detailedherein. Network can properly decide to schedule concurrent transmissionsvia different network beams with same or different content.

These and other features of the disclosed subject matter are describedin more detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The devices, components, systems, and methods of the disclosed subjectmatter are further described with reference to the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the beam concept in 5G, where each TRP is generatingmultiple narrow beams, for example, as part of beam sweeping;

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary radio network architectures that the 3GPPdesires to support with NR including, for example, stand-alone, co-sitedwith LTE and centralized baseband architectures.

FIG. 3 illustrates more exemplary radio network architectures that the3GPP desires to support with NR including, for example, centralized withlow performance transport and shared RAN;

FIG. 4 illustrates various example deployment scenarios for arrangementof cells having single TRP;

FIG. 5 illustrates various example deployment scenarios for arrangementof cells having multiple TRP;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example 5G cell;

FIG. 7 illustrates side-by-side comparison between an example 4G celland an example 5G cell;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example high frequency HF-NR system thatfacilitates gain compensation by beamforming;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example HF-NR system that facilitates weakenedinterference by beamforming;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example methodology for UL transmission from a UEto a network;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example methodology for DL transmission from anetwork to a UE;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example methodology for performing multipleconcurrent DL transmissions from a network to a UE;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example methodology for performing multipleconcurrent UL transmissions from a UE to a network;

FIG. 14 illustrates example beam mapping between a network and a UE;

FIG. 15 illustrates and example multiple access wireless communicationsystem in which various embodiments directed to concurrent ULtransmissions and concurrent DL transmissions can be implemented;

FIG. 16 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an example MIMO systemdepicting an example embodiment of a transmitter system (also referredto herein as an access network) and a receiver system (also referred toherein as an access terminal (AT) or user equipment (UE)), suitable forincorporation of various aspects directed to various networks, TRPs andUEs described herein;

FIG. 17 depicts an example non-limiting device or system suitable forperforming various aspects of the disclosed subject matter;

FIG. 18 depicts a simplified functional block diagram of an examplenon-limiting communication device suitable for incorporation of variousaspects of the subject disclosure;

FIG. 19 depicts a simplified block diagram of example program code shownin FIGS. 10-13, suitable for incorporation of various aspects of thesubject disclosure; and

FIG. 20 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example mobile device(e.g. a mobile handset, user device, user equipment, or access terminal)that can facilitate various non-limiting aspects of the disclosedsubject matter in accordance with the embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The 5G technology aims to support the following three families of usagescenarios, and specifically to satisfy both urgent market needs and morelong-term requirements set forth by the ITU-R IMT-2020: (i) eMBB(enhanced Mobile Broadband), (ii) mMTC (massive Machine TypeCommunications) and (iii) URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low LatencyCommunications). An objective of 3GPP's 5G study item on new radioaccess technology is to identify and develop technology components fornew radio systems that can operate in any spectrum band ranging from lowfrequencies to at least 100 GHz. However, radio systems that try tosupport high carrier frequencies (e.g. up to 100 GHz) will encounter anumber of challenges in the area of radio propagation. For example, withincreasing carrier frequency, the path loss would also increase.

According to R2-162366 (3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #93bis), in lowerfrequency bands (e.g. in current Long Term Evolution (LTE) bands <6GHz), the required cell coverage is provided by forming a wide sectorbeam for transmitting downlink common channels. However, utilizing widesector beam on higher frequencies (>>6 GHz) is problematic in that thecell coverage is reduced for the same antenna gain. Thus, in order toprovide the required cell coverage on higher frequency bands, higherantenna gain is needed to compensate for the increased path loss. Toincrease the antenna gain over a wide sector beam, larger antennaarrays, where the number of antenna elements range from tens tohundreds, are used to form high gain beams. As a consequence, the highgain beams are formed narrower than a typical wide sector beam, and somultiple high gain beams are needed for transmitting downlink commonchannels to cover the required cell area. The number of concurrent highgain beams that an access point is able to form is limited by the costand complexity of the utilized transceiver architecture. In practice,for higher frequencies, the number of concurrent high gain beams is muchless than the total number of beams required to cover the cell area. Inother words, the access point is able to cover only a portion of thecell area by using a subset of beams at any given time.

According to R2-163716 (3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #94), beamforming is asignal processing technique used in antenna arrays for directionalsignal transmission/reception. In beamforming, a beam is be formed bycombining elements in a phased array of antennas in such a way thatsignals at particular angles experience constructive interference whileothers experience destructive interference. Different beams are formedsimultaneously using multiple arrays of antennas. According to R2-162709(3GPP TSG RAN WG2 Meeting #93bis) and as shown in FIG. 1, the 5G cell100 includes an evolved Node B (eNB) 110 communicably coupled tomultiple transmission/reception points (TRPs) 120, 124 and 128, whichcan be either centralized or distributed. Each TRP 120, 124 or 128 canand is shown to form multiple beams. The number of beams formed by theTRP 120, 124 or 128 and the number of simultaneous beams in thetime/frequency domain depend on the number of antenna array elements andthe radio frequency RF being utilized by the TRP 120, 124 or 128.

Potential mobility types for the new radio access technology (NR)include intra-TRP mobility, inter-TRP mobility and inter-NR eNBmobility. According to R2-162762 (TSG RAN WG2 Meeting #93bis), thereliability of a system purely relying on beamforming and operating athigher frequencies is subject to challenges. A reason being that thecoverage of such a system is more sensitive to both time and spacevariations. As a consequence, the signal to interference plus noiseratio (SINR) of its link (which is narrower than LTE) can drop muchquicker than in the case of LTE.

In the 5G systems, fairly regular grid-of-beams coverage patterns withtens or hundreds of candidates for serving beams per node can becreated, by using antenna arrays having hundreds of elements at accessnodes. However, the coverage area of an individual serving beam fromsuch an array would be small, down to the order of some tens of metersin width. As a consequence, channel quality degradation outside acurrently-in-use serving beam's area would happen quicker than in thecase of wide area coverage (e.g. as provided by LTE).

According to R3-160947 (3GPP TR 38.801 V0.1.0 (2016-04)), the scenariosillustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 show exemplary radio network architecturesthat the 3GPP desires to support with the NR. FIG. 2 illustrates threeexample network architectures 210, 230 and 250. In the networkarchitecture 210, the core network 212 is shown communicably coupled totwo NR base stations 214 and 216.

In the network architecture 230, the core network 232 is communicablycoupled to Sites A 234 and Site B 236, wherein those sites support bothNR and LTE functionality. In network architecture 250, the core network252 is communicably coupled to a central baseband unit 254, which servesas the central unit of the architecture 252 and performs centralizedradio access network (RAN) processing. The central baseband unit 254, inturn, is communicably coupled to the lower layers of the NR basestations 256, 258 and 260 by way of high performance transport links.

FIG. 3 illustrates two more example radio network architectures 310 and340 that the 3GPP desires to support with NR. In architecture 310, thecore network 312 is communicably coupled to the central unit 314 thatincludes the upper layers of the NR base station. The central unit 314,in turn, is communicably coupled to the lower layers of the NR basestations 316, 318 and 320 via low performance transport links. Inarchitecture 340, each core network operator 342, 344 and 346 iscommunicably coupled to both the NR base stations 348 and 350.

According to R2-164306 (3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #94), the 3GPP desires to studythe deployments of cell layouts for standalone NR in macro cells,heterogeneous cells and small cells. According to 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #94meeting minutes for the May 23-26, 2016 meeting, one NR eNB correspondsto one or many TRPs. Typically, network controlled mobility involves twolevels. In one level, the mobility control is driven by the RRC at thecell level. In the other level, there is zero or minimum involvement bythe RRC (e.g. at MAC/PHY layers). According to R2-162210 (3GPP TSG-RANWG2 Meeting #93bis), 3GPP desires to keep the principle of 2-levelmobility handling in NR. One level would include cell level mobility andthe other level would include beam level mobility management. Regardingcell level mobility, the cell selection or reselection occurs when theUE (or mobile device) is in IDLE state and the handover occurs when theUE or mobile device is in connected (CONN) state. The mobility controlis driven by the RRC in the CONN state. Regarding beam level management,layer 1 (L1 or physical layer) handles appropriate selection of the TRPto be used by a UE (or a mobile device) and also handles the optimalbeam direction.

5G systems are expected to rely heavily on “beam based mobility” tohandle UE mobility, in addition to relying on the conventional handoverbased UE mobility. Technologies like MIMO, fronthauling, C-RAN and NFVwill allow the coverage area controlled by a single 5G node to grow,thus increasing the possible applications for beam level management andreducing the need for cell level mobility. All mobility within thecoverage area of one 5G node could be handled based on beam levelmanagement. In that scenario, handovers would only occur in case of UEmobility from the coverage area of one 5G node to the coverage area ofanother 5G node.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 show some examples of cell design in 5G NR. FIG. 4shows an example deployment with a single-TRP cell. The deployment 400includes numerous cells having a single TRP, for example cell 410includes TRP 412 and cell 420 includes TRP 422. Some cells are clusteredtogether and others are isolated. FIG. 5 shows an example deploymentwith multiple-TRP cells. The deployment 500 includes a cell 510 havingmultiple TRPs 512, 514 and 516. The deployment 500 also includes a cell520 having TRPs 522 and 524. FIG. 6 shows an example deployment 600having one 5G cell 610 comprising a 5G node 630 and multiple TRPs 612,614 and 616. FIG. 7 shows a comparison between a LTE cell 710 and a 5GNR cell 750. The LTE cell 710 includes an eNB 712 communicably coupledto multiple cells 714 and 716. Cell 714 is shown to include TRP 720 andcell 716 is shown to include TRP 722. The NR cell 750 includes acentralized unit 752 communicably coupled to a single-cell 756. Thesingle-cell 756 includes multiple distributed units (DU) 762 and 764. Itwill be understood that apart from performing a handover based on RadioResearch Management (RRM) measurement, 3GPP desires that a 5G UE shouldbe able to adapt the serving beam to maintain 5G connectivity even incase of beam quality fluctuation and/or UE intra-cell mobility. However,in order to do that, 5G Node-B and UE must be able to track and changethe serving beam properly (referred to as beam tracking hereafter).

Some terminology and assumptions are specified in the following and maybe used hereafter. The term base station (BS), as used in the subjectdisclosure, refers to a network central unit in the NR that is used tocontrol one or multiple TRPs associated with one or multiple cells.Communication between BS and TRP(s) can occur via a fronthaulconnection. A BS could also be referred to as central unit (CU), eNB, orNode B. A TRP, as used herein, is a transmission and reception pointthat provides network coverage and directly communicates with UEs. A TRPcould also be referred to as a distributed unit (DU). A cell, as usedherein, is composed of one or multiple associated TRPs, i.e. thecoverage of the cell is a superset of the coverage of all the individualTRP(s) associated with the cell. One cell is controlled by one BS. Acell can also be referred to as a TRP group (TRPG). A serving beam, asused herein, for a UE is a beam generated by a network, for example, bya TRP of the network, which is used to communicate with the UE, forexample, for transmission and/or reception.

Beam sweeping is used to cover all possible directions for transmissionand/or reception. For beam sweeping, numerous beams are required. As itis not possible to generate all these beams concurrently, beam sweepingmeans generation of a subset of these beams in one time interval andgeneration of different subsets of beam(s) in other time interval(s).Stated differently, beam sweeping means changing beams in time domain,such that all possible directions are covered after several timeintervals. Beam sweeping number refers to the necessary number of timeinterval(s) needed to sweep beams in all possible directions once fortransmission and/or reception. The control/instruction signaling relatedto beam sweeping would include a “beam sweeping number”. The beamsweeping number indicates the number of times during a predeterminedtime period that various different subsets of beams must be generated tocover the desired area.

On the network side, a NR using beamforming could be standalone, meaningthat the UE can directly camp on or connect to NR. Also, a NR usingbeamforming and a NR not using beamforming can coexist, for example, indifferent cells. A TRP can apply beamforming to both data and controlsignaling transmissions and receptions, if possible and beneficial. Thenumber of beams generated concurrently by a TRP depends on the TRP'scapability. For example, the maximum number of beams generatedconcurrently by different TRPs in the same cell may be the same andthose in different cells may be different. Beam sweeping is necessary,e.g. for the control signaling to be provided in every direction. Invarious embodiments, downlink timing of TRPs in the same cell aresynchronized and the RRC layer of the network side is located in the BS.The TRP should support both UEs with UE beamforming and UEs without UEbeamforming, meaning that the TRP should support UEs of differentcapabilities and support UE designs based on different UE releases.

On the UE side, a UE may perform beamforming for reception and/ortransmission, if possible and beneficial. The number of beams generatedconcurrently by a UE would depend on the UE's capability, for example,depending on whether generating more than one beam is possible for theUE. Beam(s) generated by a UE are typically wider than beam(s) generatedby an eNB. Beam sweeping for transmission and/or reception is generallynot necessary for user data but could be necessary for other signaling,for example, to perform a measurement. It is to be appreciated that notevery UE supports UE beamforming, for example, due to UE capability orbecause UE beamforming was not supported by NR's first few release(s).One UE can to be served by multiple beams from one or multiple TRPs ofthe same cell. Same or different DL (or UL) data could be transmitted onthe same radio resource via different serving beams for diversity orthroughput gain. There are at least two UE (RRC) states: connected state(or called active state) and non-connected state (or called inactivestate or idle state).

According to R2-162251 (3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #92bis), beamformingcan be performed on both eNB and UE sides. FIG. 8 illustrates theconcept of gain compensation by beamforming in a high frequency (HF) NRsystem. In the example cell 800, beamforming is performed by both theeNB 810 and the UE 820. In one practical example, 3GGP expects thebeamforming antenna gain at the eNB 810 to be about 15 to 30 dBi and theexpected beamforming antenna gain at the UE 820 to be about 3 to 20 dBi.

From SINR perspective, FIG. 9 illustrates a cell 900 in whichinterference is weakened because of beamforming. Sharp beamformingreduces interference power at the serving eNB 910 from neighboringinterferers eNB A 930 and eNB B 940, for example, during a downlinkoperation. Interference power from UEs connected to neighboring eNBs930, 940 is also reduced because of beamforming. It is to be understoodand appreciated that in a TX beamforming case, effective interferencewill be caused only by other TXs whose current beam(s) are also pointedin the direction of the RX. Effective interference means that theinterference power is higher than the effective noise power. In a RXbeamforming case, effective interference will be caused only by otherTXs whose beam(s) are pointed in the same direction as the UE's 950current RX beam direction.

According to an aspect of the subject disclosure, when the UE is in aconnected state, for example, a connected state in which there has notbeen any data communication between the network and the UE for a certainperiod of time, the UE can initiate an UL transmission. For example, theUE can initiate an UL transmission upon arrival of new data at the UEthat the UE wants to send to the network. For example, the user of theUE may input a text or voice message into the UE, and the UE wants tosend that message to the network.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example methodology for a UL data transmissionfrom the UE to the network. At Step 1002 of the flow diagram 1000, theUE determines that it has UL data available for transmission to thenetwork but has no UL resources that can be used to perform thetransmission. To obtain those resources, at Step 1004, the UE sends (ortransmits) a scheduling request to the network and requests ULresources. In various embodiments, the UL timing of the UE may or maynot be synchronized with the network/cell when the UE transmits therequest. The UE may transmit the scheduling request by beamforming. Invarious embodiments, the UE may or may not use beam sweeping to transmitthe request.

At Step 1006, the network performs UL resource scheduling. The UE'sscheduling request is received by one or more TRPs of the network. Inone embodiment, a TRP that receives the request schedules proper ULresources for the UE to perform UL transmission. In another embodiment,the TRP schedules the proper UL resources in coordination with thenetwork's base station (BS). In yet another embodiment, the TRP sendsthe UE's request to the BS and the BS schedules the proper UL resourcesand communicates that information to the TRP. The TRP, in turn, providesthe scheduling information about UL resources to the UE. The UL timingof the UE can be adjusted together with the UL resource scheduling. TheTRP provides the UL resource scheduling information by beamforming.

At Step 1008, the UE performs UL data transmission. After the UEreceives UL resource scheduling, the UE uses the UL resources totransmit pending UL data. The UE may use UE beamforming for ULtransmission. The TRP uses beamforming to receive the UL transmissionfrom the UE. Other information, for example, CSI, buffer status report(BSR), power headroom report (PHR), may be transmitted with the UL datato the TRP or BS. At Step 1010, the network, meaning the BS or the TRP,provides hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to the UE toindicate whether the UL transmission was successfully received. The UEmay have to perform retransmission if network fails to receive the ULtransmission.

According to an aspect of the subject disclosure, when the UE is in aconnected state, for example, a connected state in which no datacommunication has occurred between the network and the UE for a certainperiod of time, the BS (meaning the network side) can initiate a DLtransmission to the UE upon new data arrival at the network. Forexample, the network may receive a text or voice message intended forthe user of the UE that it wants to send to the UE.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example methodology for a DL data transmissionfrom the network to the UE. At Step 1102 of the flow diagram 1100, thenetwork prepares for the DL transmission to the UE. Specifically, whennetwork has DL data to be transmitted to the UE, the network determinesthe proper TRP(s) and the beam(s) to reach the UE. In variousembodiments, beam tracking (or beam finding) may be used. Also, the ULtiming of the UE must be synchronized with the network/cell beforeperforming the DL transmission. The DL data arrival may be achieved viarandom access (RA) procedure. At Step 1104, the network, by way of theBS or the TRP, selects the proper DL resources for transmission of DLdata and informs the UE, via a DL assignment, to expect and receive theDL data. At Step 1106, the transmission of DL assignment and DL dataoccurs. The DL assignment and DL data are provided by beamforming inbeam(s) that can reach the UE. UE beamforming may be used for DLreception. DL assignment may be determined by TRP or BS. At Step 1108,the UE provides HARQ feedback to the network to indicate whether the DLtransmission was successfully received. The network may need to performretransmission if the UE fails to receive the DL transmission.

According to an aspect of the subject disclosure, a UE is simultaneously(or concurrently or in parallel) served/serviced by multiple servingbeams from one or multiple TRPs of the same cell. According to anotheraspect of the subject disclosure, the network and the UE makedeterminations, depending on the scenario, about carrying same ordifferent content by DL or UL transmissions on the same radio resourcesvia different network beams. These scenarios and determinationmethodologies are discussed below. Factors (or means) for determiningwhether to carry same or different content by the transmissions viadifferent network beams are also provided below. One factor includesassistance information from the UE, which are taken into account.According to another aspect of the invention, the UE may be able todetermine whether transmissions contain same or different content. Themethodology that the UE can use to make that determination is discussedbelow.

If a UE uses only one UE beam to receive or send multiple transmissionson the same radio resources via different network beams, the samecontent should be carried by the multiple transmissions to avoidinterference. If the UE uses different UE beams to receive or send themultiple transmissions, same or different content could be carried bythe multiple transmissions. Examples of these schemes are nowillustrated with reference to FIG. 14. In an example, network beams 3,4, and 5 can be used to serve the UE 1420, and the UE 1420 can use UEbeams ‘a’ and ‘b’ to receive or send the transmissions from/to thenetwork beams 3, 4 and 5. When network beams 3 and 4 are simultaneouslyused for DL or UL transmissions on the same radio resources, because theUE uses a single UE beam (i.e. beam ‘b’) to receive or send thetransmissions, content carried by the transmissions must be the same(and cannot be different). When network beams 2 and 4 are simultaneouslyused for DL or UL transmissions on the same radio resources, because theUE 1420 can use different UE beams to receive or send the transmissions(i.e. beam ‘a’ and ‘b’), content carried by the transmissions could bethe same or different.

According to an aspect of the subject disclosure, determining which andhow many UE beam(s) to use for reception or transmission is an importantfactor in deciding whether to carry same or different content in thetransmissions via different network beams. As downlink assignments anduplink scheduling are determined by the network, it is useful for thenetwork, for example, BS or TRP(s) of the network, to be aware ofinformation about the UE beams, explicitly or implicitly. Severalalternative approaches, techniques and methodologies are discussedbelow, by which the network can gather information about UE beams.

In one example implementation, the network can derive the informationabout UE beams by measuring UE beam specific signaling from the UE. Forexample, the network can take measurements of the UL referencesignaling. In this implementation, the network must have the capabilityto differentiate between different UE beams, and particularlydifferentiate between the measurements taken by the network fordifferent UE beams. For example, the differentiation can be based onidentities of UE beams. For another example, the differentiation can bebased on per UE beam specific configuration. For example, different UEbeams can be configured with different time frequency resources used totransmit the UE beam specific signaling. Then, the network candifferentiate between (measurements of) different UE beams based on whenand/or where the UE beam specific signaling is received. The timefrequency resource for each UE beam to transmit the signaling isconfigured by network, and thus the network can use the configurationinformation to associate the time frequency information with aparticular UE beam.

In another example implementation, the UE provides assistanceinformation to the network, which assists the network with identifyingand differentiating between the various UE beams. The assistanceinformation can be related to mapping between network beam(s) and UEbeam(s). For example, with reference to FIG. 14, {a: 2} and/or {b: 3,4}, meaning that UE beam ‘a’ is paired with network/serving beam 2 andUE beam ‘b’ is paired with two network beams 3 and 4. The mappingbetween a network beam and a UE beam represents that transmission fromthe network beam can be received by the UE by using the UE beam, andlikewise or alternatively, the transmission from the UE beam can bereceived by the network using the network beam. For example, referringagain to FIG. 14, {a: 2} means that transmission/reception via networkbeam 2 can be received/transmitted via UE beam ‘a’.

Alternatively or additionally, the assistance information provided bythe UE can identify the network beams that cannot have DL or ULtransmissions with different content, for example, beams 3 and 4 in FIG.14. Alternatively or additionally, the assistance information can berelated to measured result(s) for each UE beam-to-network beam pair, forexample, with reference to FIG. 14 {a: 2=xx} and/or {b: 3=yy, 4=zz} (xx,yy, and zz are measured results).

The assistance information can be provided by physical signaling, MACcontrol signaling, or RRC signaling. The assistance informationassociated with different UE beams can be provided by the UE to thenetwork separately or together. Likewise, the assistance informationassociated with different TRPs can be provided by the UE to the networkseparately or together. Assistance information can also includeassociation between network beam(s) and TRP(s).

In an example, information about the qualified network beam(s) isincluded in the assistance information. A beam can be considered (ordetermined) to be qualified if its measured result is larger than apredetermined threshold value. In this example, information about a beamthat is not qualified may not be included in the assistance information.Whether a beam is qualified for a particular UE can be based oncomparing the measured result of the beam and an associated threshold.For example, the beam is considered qualified if the measured result ofthe beam is better than the associated threshold. The threshold can bepredefined, configured by network, and/or provided in systeminformation.

The assistance information can be provided by the UE periodically, onrequest by network, and/or in response to the change of assistanceinformation. The UE may be able to differentiate different beamsgenerated by network, for example, based on beam identity and/or TRPidentity. To provide the assistance information, a scheduling requestfrom the UE to the network may be required in order to acquire radioresources to transmit the assistance information.

The network beam(s) can be (used as) serving beam(s) for the UE. Thenetwork beam(s) can be indicated to the UE via sending configurationinformation to the UE. The UE can recognize the network beam(s) bymeasurement, by monitoring a signal of the network, and/or by receivingconfiguration information from the network. Per UE beam specificconfiguration information can be used to differentiate or indicate a UEbeam.

The network can decide whether to carry same or different content in itsDL transmissions, based on its selected serving beam(s) and at leastsome of above information about the UE beams. The network can decide toindicate to the UE whether to carry same or different content in the ULtransmissions based on its selected serving beam(s) and at least some orabove information about the UE beams. The network can also take channelcondition(s) and/or amount of buffered data for transmission intoaccount in making those decisions.

Furthermore, because a serving beam change or a UE beam change can occurdynamically, for DL transmissions, the network must be able todynamically decide whether to carry same or different content in the DLtransmissions and indicate information to the UE about whether thecontent is the same or different. For UL transmissions, the network mustbe able to dynamically decide and indicate information to the UE aboutwhether to carry same or different content in the UL transmissions. Thenetwork can indicate the above information to the UE separately ortogether with scheduling information. In one example, the informationcan be implicitly indicated by format of the scheduling information. Forexample, a first format is used to indicate concurrent transmissionswith the same content, and a second format is used to indicateconcurrent transmissions with different content.

In another example, the information can explicitly indicate whether thetransmission is associated with other transmission(s), for example,based on the serving beam or UE beam's identity. For example, referringto FIG. 14, scheduling information on beam 4 could indicate “beam 2”which means that content of transmission on beam 2 is the same as thaton beam 4. For another example, the scheduling information on beam 4could indicate “UE beam a” which means that content of transmission tobe received by UE beam a is the same as that on UE beam b. In yetanother example, the information can explicitly indicate whether theassociated transmission could be combined with other transmission(s)scheduled by scheduling information, where the indication is the samevalue or information, for example, a 1-bit indication. For example, ifserving beams 2, 3, and 4 are used for transmissions with the samecontent, the indication for transmissions associated with serving beam2, 3, and 4 are set to the same value. If serving beams 2 and 4 are usedfor transmissions with different content, the indication fortransmissions associated with serving beams 2 and 4 are set to differentvalues.

Concurrent transmissions can mean transmissions on the same radioresource(s) via different serving beams for the UE, or transmissions onthe same radio resource(s) in the same time interval via differentserving beams for the UE. Alternatively, concurrent transmissions canmean transmissions on the same radio resource(s) via different networkbeams controlled by the same network node, or transmissions on the sameradio resource(s) in the same time interval via different network beamscontrolled by the same network node. Different serving beams can beutilized by different TRPs. The time interval can be TTI, subframe, orsymbol. The radio resource can be the time/frequency resource. Theserving beam can be a network beam that serves a UE, a network beam thatcan serve a UE, or a network beam that is used to communicate with a UE,for example, for transmission and/or reception. The network beam can bea beam generated by a network node, for example, a TRP. Thetransmissions could be DL transmissions or UL transmissions.Transmissions with the same content can mean transmissions that are okayto be combined for decoding. Decoding refers to converting from one formto another. For example, data is often encoded before transmission, forexample, to reduce the requited bandwidth and provide for an efficienttransmission. Typically, all data from the same data unit is encoded inthe same specialized format, and therefore all data from the same dataunit is also decoded by using the same scheme or sequence. Thus, datasubunits of a data unit are referred herein to as having the samecontent. An example of such a data unit is the MAC PDU, meaning that theUE can combine multiple data transmissions associated with the same MACPDU for decoding purposes, and treat those transmissions have having thesame content.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example methodology for the subject disclosure,in which the UE receives two concurrent DL transmissions from thenetwork. At Step 1202 of the flow diagram 1200, the UE receives anindication from the network. The indication indicates whether a firsttransmission and a second transmission, which the UE will receive or hasalready received, can be combined by the UE for decoding purposes. AtStep 1204, the UE receives the first DL transmission via a first UEbeam. At Step 1206, the UE receives the second DL transmission via asecond UE beam. In other words, the UE uses different UE beams toreceive the first transmission and the second transmission. In oneembodiment, the first transmission and the second transmission arereceived concurrently by the UE. In one embodiment, the firsttransmission and the second transmission are transmitted concurrently bythe network. At Step 1208, the UE determines whether to combine thefirst transmission and the second transmission for decoding, based onthe indication.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example methodology for the subject disclosure,in which the UE transmits two concurrent UL transmissions to thenetwork. At Step 1302 of the flow diagram 1300, the UE receives anindication from the network about whether to transmit informationrelated to the same data unit or different data units, via a firsttransmission and a second transmission respectively. At Step 1304, theUE sends the first transmission via a first UE beam. At Step 1306, theUE sends the second transmission via a second UE beam. In other words,the UE uses different UE beams to transmit the first transmission andthe second transmission. The content of the first and secondtransmissions is according to the indication. The UE decides to transmitsame or different data unit via the first transmission and the secondtransmission based on the indication. In one embodiment, the UE sendsthe first transmission and the second transmission concurrently. The twotransmissions can include content from the same data unit or differentdata units, based on the indication. At Step 1308, the networkdetermines whether the concurrent transmissions contain same ordifferent content based on the serving beams and/or UE beams used forthe transmissions or based on the indication.

The methodologies discussed above with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13enable a network to properly schedule concurrent transmissions with sameor different content, via different network beams. In one embodiment, anetwork node can provide an indication to an UE about whether a firsttransmission and a second transmission to the UE can be combined fordecoding, wherein the first transmission via a first UE beam and thesecond transmission via a second UE beam occur concurrently. In oneembodiment, a network node can provide an indication to an UE aboutwhether a first transmission via a first UE beam and a secondtransmission via a second UE beam to be transmitted by the UE shouldinclude same or different content, wherein the first transmission andthe second transmission are to occur concurrently. In one exampleimplementation, the network node provides the indication based onassistance information related to network beam or serving beams for aUE, wherein the assistance information is provided by the UE.

In one example implementation, the UE provides assistance informationrelated to a network beam associated with the UE to a network node (e.g.a TRP). In another example, the UE provides assistance informationrelated to a UE beam associated with the UE to a network node (e.g. aTRP). In one example, the assistance information provided by the UE tothe network comprises at least information related to mapping betweennetwork beams, e.g. serving beam(s), and UE beam(s). The mappingidentifies or represents the UE beam(s) that will receive DLtransmission from the network beam(s), e.g. serving beam(s). The mappingcan identify the network beam(s), e.g. serving beam(s), that willreceive UL transmission from the UE beam(s). The assistance informationcan include at least information related to which network beam(s), e.g.serving beam(s), cannot be used to send transmissions with differentcontent. The assistance information can include at least informationrelated to measured result(s) for each UE beam (e.g. UE beam-to-networkbeam pair). In one example implementation, the assistance informationcan be provided by physical layer signaling. In one exampleimplementation, the assistance information is provided by MAC controlsignaling. In one example implementation, the assistance information isprovided by RRC signaling. In one embodiment, the assistance informationassociated with different UE beams is provided separately.Alternatively, the assistance information associated with different UEbeams is provided together. In one embodiment, the assistanceinformation associated with different TRPs is provided separately.Alternatively, the assistance information associated with different TRPsis provided together.

In one embodiment, the assistance information identifies network beam(s)or serving beam(s) as qualified, e.g. if their respective measuredresults are larger than their respective threshold(s). In oneembodiment, the assistance information does not identify network beam(s)or serving beam(s) as qualified, or identifies them as not qualifies,e.g. if their respective measured results are not larger than theirrespective threshold(s). In one embodiment, whether a beam is qualifiedis based on at least measured result of the beam and an associatedthreshold. In one embodiment, the threshold is predefined. In oneembodiment, the threshold is configured by the network. In oneembodiment, the threshold is provided in system information.

In one embodiment, the assistance information is provided periodically.In one embodiment, the assistance information is provided upon requestby the network. In one embodiment, the assistance information isprovided in response to a change in assistance information. In oneembodiment, the calculated measured result is an average of measuredresults for best N beams of the TRP. In one embodiment, the UEdifferentiates between different beams generated by a network based onbeam identity and/or TRP identity. In one embodiment, the schedulingrequest is used by the UE to acquire radio resource(s) to transmit theassistance information. In one embodiment, at least a UE beam specificconfiguration is used to differentiate or indicate a UE beam. In oneembodiment, the UE beam specific configuration comprises at least UEbeam identity. In one embodiment, the UE beam specific configurationcomprises at least time frequency resource for each UE beam.

In one embodiment, the two transmissions can be made via two differentserving beams (assigned by the networks) for the UE. The serving beamsare communicably coupled to their corresponding UE beams. In oneembodiment, the first transmission and the second transmission occur viadifferent TRPs of the same cell. In one embodiment, the firsttransmission and the second transmission occur on the same(time/frequency) radio resources. In one embodiment, the indication istransmitted by the network together with scheduling information. Inanother embodiment, the indication is transmitted separately from thescheduling information. In one embodiment, the first transmission andthe second transmission include the same content if the twotransmissions are indicated by the same signaling carrying thescheduling information.

In one example, the first transmission and the second transmission occurvia different network beams controlled by a network node (e.g. a BS orTRP). In one example, transmissions occurring concurrently means thetransmissions occur on the same radio resource, for example, the sametime/frequency resource, via different serving beams for the UE. Inanother example, transmission occurring concurrently means thetransmissions occur on the same radio resource, for example, the sametime/frequency resource, via different network beams controlled by thesame network node. In another example, transmission occurringconcurrently means the transmissions occur on the same radio resource inthe same time interval, for example, TTI, subframe, or symbol, viadifferent serving beams for the UE. In another example, transmissionoccurring concurrently means the transmissions occur on the same radioresource in the same time interval, for example, TTI, subframe, orsymbol, via different network beams controlled by the same network node.

In one example, an indication received from the network indicateswhether the first transmission and the second transmission would containthe same or different content. In one implementation, transmissions withthe same content can be combined for decoding. In one implementation,transmissions with the same content form the same data unit, e.g. MACPDU. In one implementation, the UE decides whether it is receiving oneor multiple data units from the network, via the first transmission andthe second transmission, based on the indication. In one implementation,the UE decides whether to transmit one or multiple data unit to thenetwork, via the first transmission and the second transmission, basedon the indication.

In one embodiment, the network node determines the content of concurrenttransmissions to the UE based on at least selected serving beam(s). Inone embodiment, the network node determines the content of concurrenttransmissions to the UE based on at least channel condition of the UE.In one embodiment, the network node determines the content of concurrenttransmissions to the UE based on at least the amount of buffered datafor transmission of the UE. In one embodiment, the indication isindicated by format of the scheduling information. In one embodiment,the indication indicates whether a transmission is associated with othertransmission(s). In one embodiment, the indication indicates that theserving beam(s) are to be used for transmission(s) with the samecontent. Alternatively or additionally, the indication indicates thatthe UE beam(s) are to be used for transmission(s) with the same content.In one embodiment, the indication indicates whether the firsttransmission could be combined with the second transmission. In oneembodiment, the first transmission and the second transmission includedifferent content if they are indicated by different signaling carryingscheduling information.

In one embodiment, the network node is a central unit (CU). In oneembodiment, the network node is a distributed unit (DU). In oneembodiment, the network node is a transmission/reception point (TRP). Inone embodiment, the network node is a base station (BS). In oneembodiment, the network node is a 5G node. In one embodiment, the UE isin connected mode. In another embodiment, the network beams or servingbeams for the UE are generated by different TRPs. Alternatively, thenetwork beams or serving beams for the UE are generated by one TRP. Inone embodiment, the transmission(s) are DL transmission(s) to the UE. Inone embodiment, the transmission(s) are UL transmission(s) from the UE.In one embodiment, the first transmission and the second transmissionoccur within the same cell. In one embodiment, the first transmissionand the second transmission occur via the same TRP. In one embodiment,the network beams/serving beams belong to a same cell. In oneembodiment, the network beams/serving beams are generated by a same TRP.Alternatively, the network beams/serving beams are generated bydifferent TRPs of the same cell.

Based on above methods and/or embodiment, the network can properlydecide to schedule concurrent transmissions via different network beamswith same or different content.

FIG. 14 illustrates beam mapping between a network and a UE. In the celldeployment 1400, the network 1410 is shown to have generated fivecandidate serving beams 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The UE 1420 is shown to havegenerated two UE beams a and b. The network 1410 and the UE 1420 performbeam mapping and select the proper serving beams and UE beams forcommunicating with each other. In one embodiment, one pair of beams,including a serving beam and a UE beam, is used to facilitatecommunication between the network/TRP 1410 and the UE 1420. In anotherembodiment, multiple pairs of serving and UE beams can be used tofacilitate communication between the network/TRP 1410 and the UE 1420concurrently. In yet another embodiment, one or both of the other TRPs1430 and 1440, which also reside in the cell 1400, also communicate withthe UE 1420 concurrently with the communication between the TRP 1410 andthe UE 1420. Thus, in various embodiments, the UE 1420 can communicatewith two or more TRPs 1410, 1430 and 1440 simultaneously and inparallel, by using multiple serving and UE beams. Also, as shown in FIG.14, one UE beam b overlaps with and can be paired with two serving beams3 and 4. UE beam b is wider than each of the serving beams 3 and 4.

Various embodiments of the subject disclosure described herein can beapplied to or implemented in exemplary wireless communication systemsand devices described below. In addition, various embodiments of thesubject disclosure are described mainly in the context of the 3GPParchitecture reference model. However, it is understood that with thedisclosed information, one skilled in the art could easily adapt for useand implement aspects of the subject disclosure in a 3GPP2 networkarchitecture as well as in other network architectures, as furtherdescribed herein.

The exemplary wireless communication systems and devices described belowemploy a wireless communication system, supporting a broadcast service.Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication such as voice, data, and so on. These systems maybe based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA),3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) wireless access, 3GPP LTE-A (Long TermEvolution Advanced) wireless access, 3GPP2 UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband),WiMax, 3GPP NR (New Radio) wireless access for 5G, or some othermodulation techniques.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram representing an exemplary non-limitingmultiple access wireless communication system 1500 in which variousembodiments described herein can be implemented. An access network 1502(AN) includes multiple antenna groups, one group including antennas 1504and 1506, another group including antennas 1508 and 1510, and anadditional group including antennas 1512 and 1514. In FIG. 15, only twoantennas are shown for each antenna group, however, more or fewerantennas may be utilized for each antenna group. Access terminal 1516(AT) is in communication with antennas 1512 and 1514, where antennas1512 and 1514 transmit information to access terminal 1516 over forwardlink 1518 and receive information from access terminal 1516 over reverselink 1520. Access terminal (AT) 1522 is in communication with antennas1506 and 1508, where antennas 1506 and 1508 transmit information toaccess terminal (AT) 1522 over forward link 1524 and receive informationfrom access terminal (AT) 1522 over reverse link 1526. In a FrequencyDivision Duplex (FDD) system, communication links 1518, 1520, 1524 and1526 may use different frequency for communication. For example, forwardlink 1518 may use a different frequency than that used by reverse link1520.

Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed tocommunicate is often referred to as a sector of the access network. Innon-limiting aspects, antenna groups each can be designed to communicateto access terminals in a sector of the areas covered by access network1502.

In communication over forward links 1518 and 1524, the transmittingantennas of access network 1502 may utilize beamforming in order toimprove the signal-to-noise ratio of forward links for the differentaccess terminals 1516 and 1522. Also, an access network usingbeamforming to transmit to access terminals scattered randomly throughits coverage normally causes less interference to access terminals inneighboring cells than an access network transmitting through a singleantenna to all its access terminals.

An access network (AN) may be a fixed station or base station used forcommunicating with the terminals and may also be referred to as anaccess point, a Node B, a base station, an enhanced base station, aneNodeB, or some other terminology. An access terminal (AT) may also becalled user equipment (UE), a communication device, a wirelesscommunication device, a mobile device, a mobile communication device, aterminal, an access terminal or some other terminology.

FIG. 16 is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary non-limiting MIMOsystem 1600 depicting an exemplary embodiment of a transmitter system1602 (also referred to herein as the access network) and a receiversystem 1604 (also referred to herein as an access terminal (AT) or userequipment (UE)).

In a non-limiting aspect, each data stream can be transmitted over arespective transmit antenna. Exemplary TX data processor 1606 canformat, code, and interleave the traffic data for each data stream basedon a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to providecoded data.

The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot datausing OFDM techniques. The pilot data is typically a known data patternthat is processed in a known manner and may be used at the receiversystem 1604 to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot andcoded data for each data stream is then modulated (e.g., symbol mapped)based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., binary phase-shift keying(BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-ary or higher-order PSK(M-PSK), or M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), etc.)selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The datarate, coding, and modulation for each data stream may be determined byinstructions performed by processor 1608.

The modulation symbols for all data streams are then provided to a TXMIMO processor 1610, which may further process the modulation symbols(e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 1610 then provides multiple (NT)modulation symbol streams to NT transmitters (TMTR) 1612 a through 1612t. In certain embodiments, TX MIMO processor 1610 applies beamformingweights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from whichthe symbol is being transmitted.

Each transmitter 1612 receives and processes a respective symbol streamto provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g.,amplifies, filters, and upconverts, etc.) the analog signals to providea modulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. NTmodulated signals from transmitters 1612 a through 1612 t are thentransmitted from NT antennas 1614 a through 1614 t, respectively.

At receiver system 1604, the transmitted modulated signals are receivedby multiple (NR) antennas 1616 a through 1616 r and the received signalfrom each antenna 1616 is provided to a respective receiver (RCVR) 1618a through 1618 r. Each receiver 1618 conditions (e.g., filters,amplifies, and downconverts, etc.) a respective received signal,digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and furtherprocesses the samples to provide a corresponding “received” symbolstream.

A RX data processor 1620 then receives and processes the NR receivedsymbol streams from NR receivers 1618 based on a particular receiverprocessing technique to provide NT “detected” symbol streams. The RXdata processor 1620 then demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes eachdetected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream.The processing by RX data processor 1620 is complementary to thatperformed by TX MIMO processor 1610 and TX data processor 1606 attransmitter system 1602.

A processor 1622 periodically determines which pre-coding matrix to use,for example, as further described herein. Processor 1622 formulates areverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank valueportion.

The reverse link message may comprise various types of informationregarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. Thereverse link message is then processed by a TX data processor 1624,which also receives traffic data for a number of data streams from adata source 1626, modulated by a modulator 1628, conditioned bytransmitters 1618 a through 1618 r, and transmitted back to transmittersystem 1602.

At transmitter system 1602, the modulated signals from receiver system1604 are received by antennas 1614, conditioned by receivers 1612,demodulated by a demodulator 1630, and processed by a RX data processor1632 to extract the reserve link message transmitted by the receiversystem 1604. Processor 1608 then determines which pre-coding matrix touse for determining the beamforming weights then processes the extractedmessage.

Memory 1634 may be used to temporarily store some buffered/computationaldata from 1630 or 1632 through Processor 1608, store some buffed datafrom data source 1636, or store some specific program codes, forexample, as further described herein, for example, regarding FIGS.10-13. Likewise, memory 1638 may be used to temporarily store somebuffered/computational data from RX data processor 1620 throughprocessor 1622, store some buffed data from data source 1626, or storesome specific program codes, for example, as further described herein,for example, regarding FIGS. 10-13.

In view of the example embodiments described supra, devices and systemsthat can be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matterwill be better appreciated with reference to the diagrams of FIGS.10-13. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the exampledevices and systems are shown and described as a collection of blocks,it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matteris not limited by the order, arrangement, and/or number of the blocks,as some blocks may occur in different orders, arrangements, and/orcombined and/or distributed with other blocks or functionalityassociated therewith from what is depicted and described herein.Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement theexample devices and systems described hereinafter. Additionally, itshould be further understood that the example devices and systems and/orfunctionality disclosed hereinafter and throughout this specificationare capable of being stored on an article of manufacture to facilitatetransporting and transferring such methods to computers, for example, asfurther described herein. The terms computer readable medium, article ofmanufacture, and the like, as used herein, are intended to encompass acomputer program product accessible from any computer-readable device ormedia such as a tangible computer readable storage medium.

It can be understood that various techniques described herein may beimplemented in connection with hardware or software or, whereappropriate, with a combination of both. As used herein, the terms“device,” “component,” “system” and the like are likewise intended torefer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination ofhardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example,a “device,” “component,” subcomponent, “system” portions thereof, and soon, may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on aprocessor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution,a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both anapplication running on computer and the computer can be a component. Oneor more components may reside within a process and/or thread ofexecution and a component may be localized on one computer and/ordistributed between two or more computers.

It can be further understood that while a brief overview of examplesystems, methods, scenarios, and/or devices has been provided, thedisclosed subject matter is not so limited. Thus, it can be furtherunderstood that various modifications, alterations, addition, and/ordeletions can be made without departing from the scope of theembodiments as described herein. Accordingly, similar non-limitingimplementations can be used or modifications and additions can be madeto the described embodiments for performing the same or equivalentfunction of the corresponding embodiments without deviating therefrom.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example non-limiting device or system 1700suitable for performing various aspects of the disclosed subject matter.The device or system 1700 can be a stand-alone device or a portionthereof, a specially programmed computing device or a portion thereof(e.g., a memory retaining instructions for performing the techniques asdescribed herein coupled to a processor), and/or a composite device orsystem comprising one or more cooperating components distributed amongseveral devices, as further described herein. As an example, examplenon-limiting device or system 1700 can comprise example any of thedevices and/or systems illustrated in FIGS. 1-16, as described above, oras further described below regarding FIGS. 18-20, for example, orportions thereof. For example, FIG. 17 depicts an example device 1700,which can be the UE device 1516 or 1522. In another non-limitingexample, FIG. 17 depicts an example device 1700, which can an accessnetwork 1420 or 1502, eNB 110 or a TRP 120, 124 or 128. The device 1700can be configured to perform concurrent UL transmissions and concurrentDL transmissions as illustrated in FIGS. 10-13 and related description.The device or system 1700 can comprise a memory 1702 that retainscomputer-executable instructions on a tangible computer readable storagemedium and those instructions can be executed by the processor 1704. Byway of the example, the UE 1700 can receive indications from one or moreTRPs and send assistance information to the TRPs. The UE 1700 can mapits UE beams to serving beams, and facilitate concurrent transmissionsof same or different content, based on the indication received from thenetwork/TRP(s).

FIG. 18 depicts a simplified functional block diagram of an exemplarynon-limiting communication device 1800, such as a UE device (e.g., UEdevice configured to perform beam management comprising AT 1516, AT1522, receiver system 1604, or portions thereof, and/or as furtherdescribed herein regarding FIGS. 12-18, etc.), a base station (e.g., abase station such as an access network 1502, a transmitter system 1502,and/or portions thereof, configured for beam handling, etc.), etc.,suitable for incorporation of various aspects of the subject disclosure.As shown in FIG. 16, exemplary communication device 1600 in a wirelesscommunication system can be utilized for realizing the UEs (or ATs) 1516and 1522 in FIG. 15, for example, and the wireless communications systemsuch as described above regarding FIG. 15, as a further example, can bethe LTE system, the NR system, etc. Exemplary communication device 1800can comprise an input device 1802, an output device 1804, a controlcircuit 1806, a central processing unit (CPU) 1808, a memory 1810, aprogram code 1812, and a transceiver 1814. Exemplary control circuit1806 can execute the program code 1812 in the memory 1810 through theCPU 1808, thereby controlling an operation of the communications device1800. Exemplary communications device 1800 can receive signals input bya user through the input device 1802, such as a keyboard or keypad, andcan output images and sounds through the output device 1804, such as amonitor or speaker. Exemplary transceiver 1814 can be used to receiveand transmit wireless signals, delivering received signals to thecontrol circuit 1806, and outputting signals generated by the controlcircuit 1806 wirelessly, for example, as described above regarding FIG.15.

Accordingly, further non-limiting embodiments as described herein cancomprise a UE device (e.g., UE device configured for beam handling andcomprising AT 1516, AT 1522, receiver system 1604, or portions thereof,and/or as further described herein regarding FIGS. 10-20, etc.) that cancomprise one or more of a exemplary control circuit 1806, a processor(e.g., CPU 1808, etc.) installed in the control circuit (e.g., controlcircuit 1806), a memory (e.g., memory 1810) installed in the controlcircuit (e.g., control circuit 1806) and coupled to the processor (e.g.,CPU 1808, etc.), wherein the processor (e.g., CPU 1808, etc.) isconfigured to execute a program code (e.g., program code 1812) stored inthe memory (e.g., memory 1810) to perform method steps and/or providefunctionality as described herein. As a non-limiting example, exemplaryprogram code (e.g., program code 1812) can comprise computer-executableinstructions as described above regarding FIG. 17, portions thereof,and/or complementary or supplementary instructions thereto, in additionto computer-executable instructions configured to achievefunctionalities as described herein, regarding FIGS. 1-20, and/or anycombinations thereof.

FIG. 19 depicts a simplified block diagram 1900 of exemplary programcode 1812 shown in FIG. 18, suitable for incorporation of variousaspects of the subject disclosure. In this embodiment, exemplary programcode 1912 can comprise an application layer 1902, a Layer 3 portion1904, and a Layer 2 portion 1906, and can be coupled to a Layer 1portion 1908. The Layer 3 portion 1904 generally performs radio resourcecontrol. The Layer 2 portion 1906 generally performs link control. TheLayer 1 portion 1908 generally performs physical connections. For LTE,LTE-A, or NR system, the Layer 2 portion 1906 may include a Radio LinkControl (RLC) layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The Layer 3portion 1904 may include a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer. Inaddition, as further described above, exemplary program code (e.g.,program code 1912) can comprise computer-executable instructions asdescribed above regarding FIG. 17, portions thereof, and/orcomplementary or supplementary instructions thereto, in addition tocomputer-executable instructions configured to achieve functionalitiesas described herein, regarding FIGS. 1-20, and/or any combinationsthereof.

FIG. 20 depicts a schematic diagram of an example mobile device 2000(e.g., a mobile handset, UE, AT, etc.) that can facilitate variousnon-limiting aspects of the disclosed subject matter in accordance withthe embodiments described herein. Although mobile handset 2000 isillustrated herein, it will be understood that other devices can be anyof a number of other a mobile devices, for instance, and that the mobilehandset 2000 is merely illustrated to provide context for theembodiments of the subject matter described herein. The followingdiscussion is intended to provide a brief, general description of anexample of a suitable environment 2000 in which the various embodimentscan be implemented. While the description includes a general context ofcomputer-executable instructions embodied on a tangible computerreadable storage medium, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe subject matter also can be implemented in combination with otherprogram modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.

Generally, applications (e.g., program modules) can include routines,programs, components, data structures, etc., that perform particulartasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the methods described herein canbe practiced with other system configurations, includingsingle-processor or multiprocessor systems, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, and the like,each of which can be operatively coupled to one or more associateddevices.

A computing device can typically include a variety of computer readablemedia. Computer readable media can comprise any available media that canbe accessed by the computer and includes both volatile and non-volatilemedia, removable and non-removable media. By way of example and notlimitation, computer readable media can comprise tangible computerreadable storage and/or communication media. Tangible computer readablestorage can include volatile and/or non-volatile media, removable and/ornon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storageof information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data. Tangible computer readable storage caninclude, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or othermemory technology, CD ROM, digital video disk (DVD) or other opticaldisk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storageor other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be usedto store the desired information and which can be accessed by thecomputer.

Communication media, as contrasted with tangible computer readablestorage, typically embodies computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signalsuch as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes anyinformation delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal, for example, asfurther described herein. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer readablecommunications media as distinguishable from computer-readable storagemedia.

The handset 2000 can include a processor 2002 for controlling andprocessing all onboard operations and functions. A memory 2004interfaces to the processor 2002 for storage of data and one or moreapplications 2006 (e.g., communications applications such as browsers,apps, etc.). Other applications can support operation of communicationsand/or financial communications protocols. The applications 2006 can bestored in the memory 2004 and/or in a firmware 2008, and executed by theprocessor 2002 from either or both the memory 2004 or/and the firmware2008. The firmware 2008 can also store startup code for execution ininitializing the handset 2000. A communications component 2010interfaces to the processor 2002 to facilitate wired/wirelesscommunication with external systems, e.g., cellular networks, VoIPnetworks, and so on. Here, the communications component 2010 can alsoinclude a suitable cellular transceiver 2011 (e.g., a GSM transceiver, aCDMA transceiver, an LTE transceiver, etc.) and/or an unlicensedtransceiver 2013 (e.g., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi™), WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMax®)) for corresponding signalcommunications, and the like. The handset 2000 can be a device such as acellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) with mobilecommunications capabilities, and messaging-centric devices. Thecommunications component 2010 also facilitates communications receptionfrom terrestrial radio networks (e.g., broadcast), digital satelliteradio networks, and Internet-based radio services networks, and so on.

The handset 2000 includes a display 2012 for displaying text, images,video, telephony functions (e.g., a Caller ID function, etc.), setupfunctions, and for user input. For example, the display 2012 can also bereferred to as a “screen” that can accommodate the presentation ofmultimedia content (e.g., music metadata, messages, wallpaper, graphics,etc.). The display 2012 can also display videos and can facilitate thegeneration, editing and sharing of video quotes. A serial I/O interface2014 is provided in communication with the processor 2002 to facilitatewired and/or wireless serial communications (e.g., Universal Serial Bus(USB), and/or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)1494) through a hardwire connection, and other serial input devices(e.g., a keyboard, keypad, and mouse). This supports updating andtroubleshooting the handset 2000, for example. Audio capabilities areprovided with an audio I/O component 2016, which can include a speakerfor the output of audio signals related to, for example, indication thatthe user pressed the proper key or key combination to initiate the userfeedback signal. The audio I/O component 2016 also facilitates the inputof audio signals through a microphone to record data and/or telephonyvoice data, and for inputting voice signals for telephone conversations.

The handset 2000 can include a slot interface 2018 for accommodating aSIC (Subscriber Identity Component) in the form factor of a cardSubscriber Identity Module (SIM) or universal SIM 2020, and interfacingthe SIM card 2020 with the processor 2002. However, it is to beappreciated that the SIM card 2020 can be manufactured into the handset2000, and updated by downloading data and software.

The handset 2000 can process Internet Protocol (IP) data traffic throughthe communication component 2010 to accommodate IP traffic from an IPnetwork such as, for example, the Internet, a corporate intranet, a homenetwork, a person area network, a cellular network, etc., through aninternet service provider (ISP) or broadband cable provider. Thus, VoIPtraffic can be utilized by the handset 2000 and IP-based multimediacontent can be received in either an encoded or a decoded format.

A video processing component 2022 (e.g., a camera and/or associatedhardware, software, etc.) can be provided for decoding encodedmultimedia content. The video processing component 2022 can aid infacilitating the generation and/or sharing of video. The handset 2000also includes a power source 2024 in the form of batteries and/or analternating current (AC) power subsystem, which power source 2024 caninterface to an external power system or charging equipment (not shown)by a power input/output (I/O) component 2026.

The handset 1800 can also include a video component 2030 for processingvideo content received and, for recording and transmitting videocontent. For example, the video component 2030 can facilitate thegeneration, editing and sharing of video. A location-tracking component2032 facilitates geographically locating the handset 2000. A user inputcomponent 2034 facilitates the user inputting data and/or makingselections as previously described. The user input component 2034 canalso facilitate selecting perspective recipients for fund transfer,entering amounts requested to be transferred, indicating accountrestrictions and/or limitations, as well as composing messages and otheruser input tasks as required by the context. The user input component2034 can include such conventional input device technologies such as akeypad, keyboard, mouse, stylus pen, and/or touch screen, for example.

Referring again to the applications 2006, a hysteresis component 1836facilitates the analysis and processing of hysteresis data, which isutilized to determine when to associate with an access point. A softwaretrigger component 2038 can be provided that facilitates triggering ofthe hysteresis component 2038 when a WiFi™ transceiver 1813 detects thebeacon of the access point. A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) client2040 enables the handset 2000 to support SIP protocols and register thesubscriber with the SIP registrar server. The applications 1806 can alsoinclude a communications application or client 2046 that, among otherpossibilities, can facilitate user interface component functionality asdescribed above.

Various aspects of the disclosure have been described above. It shouldbe apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide varietyof forms and that any specific structure, function, or both beingdisclosed herein is merely representative. Based on the teachings hereinone skilled in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed hereinmay be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two ormore of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, anapparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using anynumber of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, such an apparatusmay be implemented or such a method may be practiced using otherstructure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition toor other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. As an exampleof some of the above concepts, in some aspects concurrent channels maybe established based on pulse repetition frequencies. In some aspectsconcurrent channels may be established based on pulse position oroffsets. In some aspects concurrent channels may be established based ontime hopping sequences. In some aspects concurrent channels may beestablished based on pulse repetition frequencies, pulse positions oroffsets, and time hopping sequences.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, processors, means, circuits, and algorithmsteps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware (e.g., a digital implementation, ananalog implementation, or a combination of the two, which may bedesigned using source coding or some other technique), various forms ofprogram or design code incorporating instructions (which may be referredto herein, for convenience, as “software” or a “software module”), orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

In addition, the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, andcircuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein maybe implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (“IC”), anaccess terminal, or an access point. The IC may comprise a generalpurpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistorlogic, discrete hardware components, electrical components, opticalcomponents, mechanical components, or any combination thereof designedto perform the functions described herein, and may execute codes orinstructions that reside within the IC, outside of the IC, or both. Ageneral purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

It is understood that any specific order or hierarchy of steps in anydisclosed process is an example of a sample approach. Based upon designpreferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy ofsteps in the processes may be rearranged while remaining within thescope of the present disclosure. The accompanying method claims presentelements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to belimited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with theaspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.A software module (e.g., including executable instructions and relateddata) and other data may reside in a data memory such as RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of computer-readablestorage medium known in the art. A sample storage medium may be coupledto a machine such as, for example, a computer/processor (which may bereferred to herein, for convenience, as a “processor”) such that theprocessor can read information (e.g., code or program code) from andwrite information to the storage medium. A sample storage medium may beintegral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium mayreside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in user equipment. In thealternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discretecomponents in user equipment. Moreover, in some aspects any suitablecomputer-program product may comprise a computer-readable mediumcomprising codes relating to one or more of the aspects of thedisclosure. In some aspects a computer program product may comprisepackaging materials.

While the various embodiments of the subject disclosure have beendescribed in connection with various non-limiting aspects, it will beunderstood that the embodiments of the subject disclosure may be capableof further modifications. This application is intended to cover anyvariations, uses or adaptation of the subject disclosure following, ingeneral, the principles of the subject disclosure, and including suchdepartures from the present disclosure as come within the known andcustomary practice within the art to which the subject disclosurepertains.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such describeddevices and/or processes into systems. That is, at least a portion ofthe devices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into asystem via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those having skill inthe art will recognize that a typical system can include one or more ofa system unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control device (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control devices for moving and/oradjusting parameters). A typical system can be implemented utilizing anysuitable commercially available components, such as those typicallyfound in data computing/communication and/or networkcomputing/communication systems.

Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter sometimes illustratedifferent components contained within, or connected with, othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that, in fact, many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same and/or equivalent functionality. In aconceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the sameand/or equivalent functionality is effectively “associated” such thatthe desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components hereincombined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as“associated with” each other such that the desired functionality isachieved, irrespective of architectures or intermediary components.Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being“operably connected,” “operably coupled,” “communicatively connected,”and/or “communicatively coupled,” to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality, and any two components capable of being so associated canalso be viewed as being “operably couplable” or “communicativelycouplable” to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specificexamples of operably couplable or communicatively couplable can include,but are not limited to, physically mateable and/or physicallyinteracting components, wirelessly interactable and/or wirelesslyinteracting components, and/or logically interacting and/or logicallyinteractable components.

With respect to substantially any plural and/or singular terms usedherein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural tothe singular and/or from the singular to the plural as can beappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for thesake of clarity, without limitation.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general,terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodiesof the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g.,the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limitedto,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” theterm “includes” should be interpreted as “includes, but is not limitedto,” etc.). It will be further understood by those skilled in the artthat, if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation isintended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and inthe absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example,as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may containusage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” tointroduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should notbe construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by theindefinite articles “a” or “an” limit any particular claim containingsuch introduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one”or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articlesused to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the barerecitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at leasttwo recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in thoseinstances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C,etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the senseone having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “asystem having at least one of A, B, and C” would include, but not belimited to, systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those skilledin the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presentingtwo or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, ordrawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities ofincluding one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. Forexample, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include thepossibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are describedin terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individualmember or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and allpurposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, allranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible sub-rangesand combinations of sub-ranges thereof. Any listed range can be easilyrecognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range beingbroken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths,tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein canbe readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third,etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all languagesuch as “up to”, “at least”, and the like include the number recited andrefer to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into sub-ranges asdiscussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in theart, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a grouphaving 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, agroup having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells,and so forth.

From the foregoing, it will be noted that various embodiments of thedisclosed subject matter have been described herein for purposes ofillustration, and that various modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the subject disclosure.Accordingly, the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intendedto be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by theappended claims.

In addition, the words “example” and “non-limiting” are used herein tomean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidanceof doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by suchexamples. Moreover, any aspect or design described herein as “anexample,” “an illustration,” “example” and/or “non-limiting” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent examplestructures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art.Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,”and other similar words are used in either the detailed description orthe claims, for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to beinclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an opentransition word without precluding any additional or other elements, asdescribed above.

As mentioned, the various techniques described herein can be implementedin connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with acombination of both. As used herein, the terms “component,” “system” andthe like are likewise intended to refer to a computer-related entity,either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, orsoftware in execution. For example, a component can be, but is notlimited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, anobject, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or acomputer. By way of illustration, both an application running oncomputer and the computer can be a component. In addition, one or morecomponents can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and acomponent can be localized on one computer and/or distributed betweentwo or more computers.

Systems described herein can be described with respect to interactionbetween several components. It can be understood that such systems andcomponents can include those components or specified sub-components,some of the specified components or sub-components, or portions thereof,and/or additional components, and various permutations and combinationsof the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as componentscommunicatively coupled to other components rather than included withinparent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it should be noted thatone or more components can be combined into a single component providingaggregate functionality or divided into several separate sub-components,and that any one or more middle component layers, such as a managementlayer, can be provided to communicatively couple to such sub-componentsin order to provide integrated functionality, as mentioned. Anycomponents described herein can also interact with one or more othercomponents not specifically described herein but generally known bythose of skill in the art.

As mentioned, in view of the example systems described herein, methodsthat can be implemented in accordance with the described subject mattercan be better appreciated with reference to the flowcharts of thevarious figures and vice versa. While for purposes of simplicity ofexplanation, the methods can be shown and described as a series ofblocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subjectmatter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks canoccur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks fromwhat is depicted and described herein. Where non-sequential, orbranched, flow is illustrated via flowchart, it can be understood thatvarious other branches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, can beimplemented which achieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, notall illustrated blocks can be required to implement the methodsdescribed hereinafter.

While the disclosed subject matter has been described in connection withthe disclosed embodiments and the various figures, it is to beunderstood that other similar embodiments may be used or modificationsand additions may be made to the described embodiments for performingthe same function of the disclosed subject matter without deviatingtherefrom. Still further, multiple processing chips or multiple devicescan share the performance of one or more functions described herein, andsimilarly, storage can be effected across a plurality of devices. Inother instances, variations of process parameters (e.g., configuration,number of components, aggregation of components, process step timing andorder, addition and/or deletion of process steps, addition ofpreprocessing and/or post-processing steps, etc.) can be made to furtheroptimize the provided structures, devices and methods, as shown anddescribed herein. In any event, the systems, structures and/or devices,as well as the associated methods described herein have manyapplications in various aspects of the disclosed subject matter, and soon. Accordingly, the subject disclosure should not be limited to anysingle embodiment, but rather should be construed in breadth, spirit andscope in accordance with the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for a User Equipment (UE), comprising:receiving a first transmission, from a network node, via a first UEbeam; receiving a second transmission, from the network node, via asecond UE beam; and determining to combine (i) the first transmissionthat was received from the network node via the first UE beam and (ii)the second transmission that was received from the network node via thesecond UE beam for decoding based on at least an indication receivedfrom the network node via at least one of the first UE beam or thesecond UE beam.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmissionis via a first network beam and the second transmission is via a secondnetwork beam.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first network beamand the second network beam are generated by differentTransmission/Reception Points (TRPs).
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe indication indicates network beams are to be used for twotransmissions with the same Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol DataUnit (PDU).
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmission andthe second transmission include the same Medium Access Control (MAC)Protocol Data Unit (PDU) if the first transmission and the secondtransmission are indicated by the same signaling carrying schedulinginformation.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmissionand the second transmission include different Medium Access Control(MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU)s if the first transmission and the secondtransmission are indicated by different signaling carrying schedulinginformation.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningwhether to combine the first transmission and the second transmissionfor decoding based on at least whether the first transmission and thesecond transmission include the same information.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the indication indicates that the first transmission and thesecond transmission can be combined for decoding.
 9. A method for anetwork node, comprising: transmitting, to a User Equipment (UE) via atleast one of a first network beam or a second network beam, anindication that a first transmission to the UE and a second transmissionto the UE can be combined for decoding; transmitting the firsttransmission to the UE via the first network beam; and transmitting thesecond transmission to the UE via the second network beam.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the first transmission is via a first UE beamand the second transmission is via a second UE beam.
 11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the first network beam and the second network beam aregenerated by different Transmission/Reception Points (TRPs).
 12. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the indication indicates network beams are tobe used for two transmissions with the same Medium Access Control (MAC)Protocol Data Unit (PDU).
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein at leastone of: the first transmission and the second transmission include thesame Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) if the firsttransmission and the second transmission are indicated by the samesignaling carrying scheduling information; or the first transmission andthe second transmission include different MAC PDUs if the firsttransmission and the second transmission are indicated by differentsignaling carrying scheduling information.
 14. A User Equipment (UE),comprising: a control circuit; a processor installed in the controlcircuit; and a memory installed in the control circuit and operativelycoupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to executea program code stored in the memory to perform operations comprising:receiving, from a network node, a first transmission via a first UEbeam; receiving, from the network node, a second transmission via asecond UE beam; and determining whether to combine the firsttransmission received from the network node via the first UE beam andthe second transmission received from the network node via the second UEbeam for decoding based on at least an indication received from thenetwork node via at least one of the first UE beam or the second UEbeam.
 15. The UE of claim 14, wherein the first transmission is via afirst network beam and the second transmission is via a second networkbeam.
 16. The UE of claim 15, wherein the first network beam and thesecond network beam are generated by different Transmission/ReceptionPoints (TRPs).
 17. The UE of claim 14, wherein the indication indicatesnetwork beams are to be used for two transmissions with the same MediumAccess Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU).
 18. The UE of claim 14,wherein at least one of: the first transmission and the secondtransmission include the same Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol DataUnit (PDU) if the first transmission and the second transmission areindicated by the same signaling carrying scheduling information; or thefirst transmission and the second transmission include different MACPDUs if the first transmission and the second transmission are indicatedby different signaling carrying scheduling information.
 19. The UE ofclaim 14, the operations further comprising: determining whether tocombine the first transmission and the second transmission for decodingbased on at least whether the first transmission and the secondtransmission include the same Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol DataUnit (PDU).
 20. The UE of claim 14, wherein the indication indicatesthat the first transmission and the second transmission can be combinedfor decoding.